November '11 Digital Week III

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Tuesday, 22 November 2011 15:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Blu-rays of the Week
Being Human: Complete 1st Season (e one)
There once were three roommates: a ghost, a vampire and a werewolf. (The show’s title is “ironic.”) Despite a trio of attractive leads--led by Meaghan Rath as the female specter-- this Canadian drama strains to replicate the fantastic success of the Twilight saga on a weekly basis.

Although the show does occasionally create an invitingly odd atmosphere, it doesn’t sustain the dramatics through this baker’s dozen worth of episodes. The Blu-ray image is excellent; bonus features include featurettes and interviews.

Bellflower (Oscilloscope)
A clumsy and confused attempt at exploring the misogynistic attitudes among young men today, writer-director-star Evan Glodell’s egomaniacal ride has intriguing performances (notably by actresses Jessie Wiseman and Rebekah Brandes) and Glodell’s own inventions like homemade flamethrowers and an impressive muscle car, but his self-indulgent film never develops anything remotely like an arresting or original point of view.

The low-budget visuals look excessively grainy in hi-def; extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes, outtakes.

Farscape: The Complete Series (A&E)
In its four seasons, Farscape distinguished itself as intelligent sci-fi with a visual imaginativeness from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. The innovative, indelible alien and outer space visuals are courtesy of an unbeatable combination of CGI effects, puppets and prosthetics--along with an excellent cast.

All 88 series episodes sparkle in HD, and the 20 discs feature hours of extras: a new retrospective documentary, Memories of Moya: An Epic Journey Explored; a behind-the-scenes special, Farscape Undressed; other featurettes and documentaries; audio commentaries, deleted and alternate scenes.

Flypaper (IFC)
This incredibly stale comic caper tries to keep viewers on their toes by switching villains and allegiances every few minutes, but only ends up wasting appealing performances by Patrick Dempsey and Ashley Judd. This bank-robbery flick also allows actors like Tim Blake Nelson, Taylor Pruitt Vince, Jeffrey Tambor and Mekhi Phifer to ham mercilessly, making it more difficult to trudge through as it continues.

Cleverness doesn’t automatically equal wit, as Flypaper mind-numbingly demonstrates. The hi-def image is decent enough; extras include cast interviews.

Main Street (Magnolia)
If I didn’t know better, I’d say that this meandering character-driven drama is a pale imitation of playwright Horton Foote’s piercing human stories. Instead, it is a Foote screenplay, and it’s been lacklusterly directed by John Doyle, wasting a solid cast led by Amber Tamblyn, Ellen Burstyn, Patricia Clarkson and Colin Firth.

Well-done individual moments aside, Main Street never coheres into involving drama. At least its small-town atmosphere is nicely etched. The movie looks terrific on hi-def; extras are deleted scenes and an on-set featurette.

Pound of Flesh (Odyssey)
Poor Malcolm McDowell is caught in this laughless black comedy about a beloved professor who pimps out his female students to fellow teachers.

Aside from a bevy of gorgeous women and McDowell’s dry persona, Tamar Simon Hoffs’ movie is as forgettable and paper-thin as the previous film of hers I’ve seen: The All-Nighter (1987), which at least featured her then-famous daughter Susanna Hoffs in a bikini. The Blu-ray image looks muted; extras are a McDowell interview, on-set featurette and outtakes.

The Rules of the Game (Criterion)
Jean Renoir’s best film, this scathing satire of French aristocracy on the eve of World War II flopped in 1939; now it’s rightly considered one of the greatest films ever made, its humor and humanity undimmed.

The Criterion Collection’s brilliant Blu-ray release presents the movie in its gorgeous black and white splendor and keeps the extraordinary bonus features that made the original DVD release one of its most comprehensive: Renoir’s intro; audio commentary; interviews; excerpts from a French TV program and part of a BBC documentary; video essay on the film’s tumultuous history; and a comparison of its two endings.

Three Colors Trilogy (Criterion)
Krzysztof Kieslowski’s trilogy, based on the colors of the French flag, varies wildly in quality--the austere Blue, clunky White, weirdly colorless Red--with each starring a young French/Swiss actress (Juliette Binoche, Julie Delpy, Irene Jacob).

I prefer Kieslowski’s Polish films, culminating in the awesome Decalogue; contrarily, his fancy, elliptical French films are overrated misfires. The Criterion Collection, of course, gives the trilogy the deluxe treatment, from the splendidly grainy visuals to the plethora of extras (video essays/featurettes/interviews on each film and earlier Kieslowski shorts on each disc).

West Side Story (MGM)
The 1961 Oscar-winning Best Picture was this airborne adaptation of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s classic Broadway musical, which updates Romeo and Juliet to Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan. Director Robert Wise smartly lets Bernstein’s buoyant score, Sondheim’s clever lyrics and Jerome Robbins’ scintillating choreography fill the screen unadorned.

This hi-def edition scores with bright colors and film-like quality; extras, spread over two Blu-ray discs (a bonus DVD of the film is included), include Sondheim’s song commentary and several featurettes.

WWII in HD: Collector’s Edition (A&E)
This is an updated release of last year’s revelatory History Channel series that introduced stunning color footage rarely seen anywhere. The immersiveness of this intimate and brutal footage shot during the wars in Europe and Asia is as memorable as the classic World at War series.

In addition to 10 outstanding hours encompassing the entire war, this Blu-ray set also features two new programs: The Battle for Iwo Jima and The Air War.

DVDs of the Week
Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero (PBS)
This hard-hitting Frontline episode from 2002 takes the measure of fallout from September 11’s horrors by examining belief in God. The absorbing two-hour program shows how the events of that day pulled people in different directions, from losing faith in a God who would let such things happen to reinforcing belief that good ultimately triumphs over evil.

An epilogue presents discussion of the indelible image of a man and woman, holding hands, leaping from one of the towers, crystallizing beliefs either way.

It Takes a Thief: The Complete Series (e one)
Robert Wagner played the dashing thief who becomes an American intelligence agent in this classic spy series that ran from 1968-70. This ubiquitous 12-disc boxed set presents the complete series in 66 episodes, beginning with the engaging pilot, A Thief Is a Thief Is a Thief, starring Wagner and a beauteous bevy of international actresses: Senta Berger, Willi Koopman and Anita Eubank.

Other noteworthy episodes include Susan Saint James, Bill Bixby, Joseph Cotton, Peter Sellers and Bette Davis as guest stars. Included are extras like a Robert Wagner interview, numbered frame of 35 mm film, set of coasters and collectible booklet.

Rio Sex Comedy (Film Buff)
Jonathan Nossiter’s revealing documentary Mondovino was about the wonderful world of winemaking; his latest feature, set in Brazil’s most spectacular city, amusingly chronicles the wonderful world of sexual exploits of people in Rio who get involved with one another and with locals.

With a good international cast--Charlotte Rampling, Bill Pullman and a frequently nude Irene Jacob--Nossiter’s movie works as both sexy comedy and picturesque travelogue. Extras include 20-odd minutes of deleted scenes.

The Tree (Zeitgeist)
If overt symbolism is your thing, then Julie Bertuccelli’s diffuse account of a young widow whose life is literally uprooted by the huge fig tree that surrounds her and her children’s house is a movie for you.

The Tree does make extensive use of  splendid Australian outback landscapes, and the actors (especially Morgana Davies as a wise-beyond-her-years young daughter) are exceptional, but trowel-laden visual metaphors wear out their welcome, however superbly shot. Lone extra: 30-minute making-of featurette.

CDs of the Week
Helene Grimaud: Mozart (Deutsche Grammophon)
Many musicians return to the simple eloquence of Mozart after years of performing works by other composers, and French pianist Helene Grimaud (an incredibly youthful-looking 43) does just that on this wonderful disc of two of his greatest concertos: the sprightly No. 19 and more serious No. 23.

Grimaud’s idiosyncratic technique works wonders with Mozart’s straightforward elegance, and she’s equally good with his tasty concert aria “Non temer, scordi di te?”, in an exquisite partnership with the lovely-sounding German soprano Mojca Erdmann.

Joyce Yang: Collage (Avie)
There’s something special about a pianist whose artistry is so formidably wide-ranging that she can make any kind of music her own.

That’s what Joyce Yang does in her brilliant traversal of four centuries’ worth of keyboard masterpieces by Scarlatti (18th century), Schumann (19th century), Debussy (20th century) and contemporary composers Lowell Liebermann (late 20th century) and Sebastian Currier (21st century). Yang brings a superb balance of form and an improvisatory quality to all of these works.

On Broadway: "Godspell" Returns

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Tuesday, 15 November 2011 10:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Godspell
Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Choreographed by Christopher Gattelli
Directed by Daniel Goldstein
Starring Hunter Parrish, Wallace Smith, Uzo Aduba, Nick Blaemire, Celisse Henderson, Morgan James, Telly Leung, Lindsay Mendez, George Salazar, Anna Maria Perez de Tagle

The amped-up Broadway revival of Stephen Schwartz’s Godspell spends too much time dumbing itself down, as if the material itself isn’t solid enough to attract new audiences 40 years after its premiere.

What’s strange is that a show originally conceived as a modern, timeless reworking of the story of Christ and his disciples has been reworked to try to remain contemporary. Although Godspell remains a joyful celebration filled with Schwartz’s engaging songs, Daniel Goldstein’s staging makes other errors.

For starters, the cast’s energy is wasted as they bounce around the small Circle in the Square stage as if practicing for a triathlon during the songs (which they may well be), thanks to Christopher Gattelli’s busy but uninspired choreography. When the performers are not running in and out of the stage area, they jump up and down on trampolines appearing from trap doors or bring audience members onstage for some cute interaction.

But where Godspell is most exasperating is during the many scenes that reenact the parables. Jesus told parables to simplify his lessons for the masses: these jokey and farcical reenactments not only further simplify stories already made simple, but dumb them down so much that they pander to audiences. Add to that the many pop-culture and topical references (Steve Jobs, Lindsay Lohan and Occupy Wall Street, for starters) and you have a musical begging for audience approval.

Schwartz’s tuneful rock songs sound harder but hallower performed by the production’s straight-ahead rock band (bass-drums-guitars): Schwartz’s music retains its appealing simplicity, for the most part,  although it’s too bad that the sweetly understated “Day by Day” has been turned into an “American Idol”-style audition.

Hunter Parrish makes a spirited pretty-boy Jesus, Wallace Smith a dashing John the Baptist and Judas, and the rest of the cast has enough spunk to keep up with them. Would that this new Godspell was as dynamic as its performers.

Godspell
Performances began October 13, 2011; opened November 7
Circle in the Square Theatre, 235 West 50th Street, New York NY
http://godspell.com

November '11 Digital Week II

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 14 November 2011 15:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Blu-rays of the Week
Alleged (Image)
This sanitized dramatization of the famous Scopes monkey trial pits William Jennings Bryan against Clarence Darrow in a courtroom battle for the ages: evolution vs. creationism. The movie sides with the creationists, which is fine, but it presents a “fair and balanced” showcase hidden by a dull fictional romance.

Brian Denney (Darrow), John Thompson (Bryan) and Colm Meaney (H.L. Mencken) tower over weak material. The Blu-ray has an adequate image; no extras.

Atlas Shrugged, Part 1 (Fox)
This middling adaptation of Ayn Rand’s massive novel, covering the first third of the book, will continue with two more parts. With a wooden cast playing Rand’s caricatures with little subtlety, warmth or humanity, Atlas certainly lives up to Rand’s attitudinizing.

Director Paul Johansson cannot make endless train scenes, wine-drenched business meetings and wide-open vistas from Colorado to Wisconsin cohere into anything involving. The Blu-ray image is stellar; extras comprise Johansson’s commentary, a making-of featurette and self-indulgent fan feature.

Blue Velvet (MGM)
David Lynch’s bizarre 1986 melodrama, an immediate “classic” upon its release, is little more than a meretricious literalization of the dark impulses that stir beneath red, white and blue American soil.

MGM’s pristine Blu-ray only underscores the shallow psychologizing, and Frederick Elmes’ garishly lit photography and amateur-night acting (especially Dennis Hopper and Dean Stockwell’s overdone bad guys) don‘t help much. Extras include a 70-minute retrospective documentary, outtakes, 50 minutes of unseen footage and Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert’s TV review (Ebert, bless him, disliked it).

Fanny and Alexander (Criterion)
One of The Criterion Collection’s best releases finally makes it to hi-def: Ingmar Bergman’s 1982 Swedish TV mini-series is five hours and 20 minutes’ worth of brilliance, the ultimate summation of his filmmaking genius.

Included are the original TV version, the universally praised three-hour theatrical version, and on a third disc, Bergman’s own two-hour on-set The Making of Fanny and Alexander, a 40-minute retrospective with interviews and an hour-long 1984 Swedish TV interview with Bergman. The Blu-ray image is luminous, needless to say.

In a Glass Cage (Cult Epics)
Agusti Villaronga’s unsettling 1983 debut tells its shocking story of a pedophiliac former Nazi guard, now in an iron lung, whose past exploits trigger the crazed fantasies of a young male nurse.

Tense scenes of psychological trauma sit alongside risible moments of physical torture, but Villaronga is apparently serious: his movie is a horrific traffic accident you keep watching despite the mayhem. The Blu-ray image is appropriately grainy; extras include Villaronga interviews and three Villaronga short films.

Mutiny on the Bounty (Warners)
Lewis Milestone’s 1962 remake of the classic adventure creeps along for much of its three-hour length: only its shimmering visuals distinguish it.

With a cast led by Trevor Howard as Captain Bligh and Marlon Brando as Fletcher Christian, who leads the mutinous crew against Bligh (but not until the third hour!), there’s certainly much scenery chewing, but the movie is too bloated too much to work. The restored imagery looks absolutely first-rate on Blu-ray; extras include an alternate prologue and epilogue and several vintage featurettes.

Page Eight (PBS)
Playwright David Hare’s made-for-British-TV movie compellingly tackles the current post-Sept. 11 political climate with its story of a British agent who, being privy to secret documents that look bad for his country and the U.S., must make a decision based on ethics.

With a terrific cast--Bill Nighy as the hero, Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes, Judy Davis, Saskia Reeves, Marthe Keller, Rachel Weisz and Alice Krige--Hare’s cerebral thriller is gripping throughout. The Blu-ray image is flawless; no extras.

The River Why (Image)
From David James Duncan’s impressionistic novel, this coming of age story, set among monumental Oregon locations, follows a fly-fishing family, seen through the eyes of the oldest son (Zach Gilford).

There‘s not much dramatic weight, although the girlfriend (a delightful Amber Heard) presents a nice distraction for the son and the viewer. The Blu-ray looks splendid; extras comprise cast and crew interviews.

13 (Anchor Bay)
This preposterous drama about men recruited (or forced) to play Russian roulette for bettors who watch  tries to conjure suspense from a “who cares?” scenario. What in The Deer Hunter was a metaphor for war’s randomness is used here as a crutch to prop up senseless violence.

An assortment of haggard actors (Mickey Rourke, Michael Shannon, 50 Cent, Ray Winstone, Jason Statham) lose out to shopworn material. The Blu-ray image is good; no extras.

Water for Elephants (Fox)
Based on Sara Gruen’s popular novel, this alternately gritty and shameless love story set in a traveling circus is distinguished by two performances: Robert Pattinson as the hero and Christoph Waltz as the villain. Too bad they’re hampered by a colorless Reese Witherspoon as the dastardly Waltz’s wife, who runs away with Pattinson.

Two out of three ain’t bad, and an always colorful Jim Norton provides his usual boost as a circus employee. The sparkling Blu-ray image looks superior in every way, especially in its deep blacks; extras include making-of featurettes, interviews and an audio commentary.

DVDs of the Week
Crime of Love (Raro Video)
Luigi Comencini made this propagandistic romantic tragedy in 1974 to illuminate the appalling workers’ conditions in Northern Italian factories. Two workers (the sympathetic Giuliano Gemma and Stefania Sandrelli) fall in love and plan to marry--despite she being Sicilian and he Milanese, apparently as bad as the Capulets and Montagues or Hatfields and McCoys--until she’s stricken by a disease caused by the factory’s conditions.

Comencini juggles his love story and agit-prop subplots with finesse, and when the movie becomes too strident, its two engaging stars are triumphant. Lone extra: film critic Adriano Apra interview.

Putty Hill (Cinema Guild)
Matt Porterfield’s artless portrait of a close-knit neighborhood on the outskirts of Baltimore has a truthful documentary feel. This meandering glimpse at people affected by a young man’s untimely death at least doesn’t condescend to them, although it feels padded even at 85 minutes.

Extras include Porterfield’s commentary, deleted scenes, a 30-minute making-of documentary, and Porterfield’s first feature, 2006’s Hamilton, with deleted scenes included.

Rush: Time Machine (Rounder/Anthem)
On its last tour, during which the Canadian power trio played its entire 1981 classic album Moving Pictures, Rush showed it can perform with verve and energy even after 37 years together. In this 2011 Cleveland show, Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee and Neil Peart perform 26 songs spanning their career from “Working Man” to the hard-hitting new tune “Caravan.”

The nearly three-hour set features healthy doses of the band’s offbeat humor (like its hilarious skits of its alternate history as “Rash”). Only quibble: too many audience shots; I’d rather watch Peart play than anonymous fans air-drumming. The sound is spectacular, the bonus skit outtakes are also amusing.

The Sleeping Beauty (Strand)
Catherine Breillat’s unsurprisingly feminist take on Perrault’s classic fairy tale is similar to her adaptation of the fable Bluebeard: she takes liberties to have it conform to her own ideas. Like in Bluebeard, there are fascinating cinematic moments that elucidate her point of view.

After Fat Girl, Breillat seemed to lose her way being provocative whether her material calls for it or not: after a few moribund movies, there’s something enervating about her breathing new life into familiar stories, regaining her form in the process.

CDs of the Week
Gabriel Faure, Complete Chamber Music for Strings and Piano (Virgin Classics)
This five-disc set collects all of Faure’s chamber works, composed over a half-century from his First Violin Sonata in 1876 until his final work, the autumnal, haunting String Quartet, composed in 1924 before his death at age 79. Played by veteran French musicians led by violinist Renaud Capucon, the exquisite refinement of Faure’s best works comes through loud and clear.

I have rarely heard a more riveting performance of the Second Piano Quintet, which I know backwards and forwards. If you have other recordings of Faure’s chamber music, this is an essential addition; if you don’t (and why not?), this is as good a place to start as any.

Steve Reich, WTC 911 (Nonesuch)
If Steve Reich’s WTC 9/11 Quartet isn’t the last word on that devastating  terrorist event, it uses a lot of last words in a striking sound collage that plays off the tensile sound of the Kronos Quartet and the electronically manipulated statements of people there on that fateful day (and shortly after).

One of Reich’s most personal and emotional works is all the more powerful for its brevity. Also included are his Mallet Quartet (which works better on the accompanying DVD, since you can watch the four performers) and the slight Dance Patterns.